When Rocco Pozzi became the Commissioner of the Westchester County, N.Y., Department of Correction in 1998, he was supposed to stay in the position for only a few months.  After all, Pozzi, who was already head of the county's probation department, had plenty on his plate.  But seven years later, he's still wearing both hats, making sure the corrections and probation departments are working hand-in-hand to rehabilitate offenders and keep the community safe.

Recently, The Corrections Connection Network News talked with Pozzi about his career in criminal justice prior to arriving in Westchester County.  He also talked about changes he has implemented during his time in New York and what he thinks it takes to make it in the corrections field.

Q: How did you get your start in the corrections field?
 
Pozzi: I made a decision, while I was in college - undergrad - [at Penn State].  I was an education major.  At that time, there was a lot of movement around trying to improve criminal justice services in the United States [and make the filed more professional].  I became interested in criminal justice and I actually transferred out of the Department of Education into the Department of Criminal Justice and I got a degree.  Actually, my degree is in law enforcement and corrections.  That kind-of spurred my interest and my field of interest was probation.  I happened to be lucky enough in 1973 to get a job in the Philadelphia Probation Department, where I worked for 16 years.

I started out as a probation officer trainee step one - the lowest that you can start in the probation ranks.  I worked my way up through the probation ladder and actually became a court administrative officer - that was my first promotion.  I was in charge of records and a number of administrative activities in the probation department.  I happened to be fortunate enough that, when Bob Williams became the Chief Probation Officer, he [arranged it] so that I served as the deputy chief probation officer in charge of field services.  I served in that capacity for five years before I moved up to New York.

They were looking for a commissioner for the probation department in Westchester County, New York and I made [out] application for the job.  I got the job out of a probation periodical, sent my resume in, went through the interview process and was selected for the job.  I knew absolutely nobody in Westchester.  They were looking to bring someone in from the outside because there were problems in the department.  [They wanted an] outsider with a different perspective to come into Westchester and make some changes.

Q: What are some changes you have made in Westchester County?

Pozzi: In the probation department we went from a department that was very generalist in nature and became a department that became very specialized in dealing with the chronic problems that [cause people to] commit crimes a lot of times.  For instance, we created a sex offender unit.  We created a DWI unit to deal with drunk divers.  We have a psych caseload.  We have domestic violence caseload.  [We became] specialized to deal with the problems those people present to us when they are placed on probation.  My belief is that, if you work with those types of cases, you develop an expertise in understanding the nature of the problems those people have.  We also can offer people specialized training in becoming experts in dealing with those problems.  Different cases sitting in general caseloads don't get a whole lot of attention.  The degree of specialization even goes to restitution cases where we want to collect as much money as we can to give back to victims.  [We have] a caseload for restitution so we can make sure our compliance rate for victims is high.  We are very victim-oriented.  One of the things we did in the domestic violence unit [is that] we made the victims our primary clients, which was a real change in perspective for probation.  Our primary focus is always the probationer - that is who we are statutorily responsible for supervising.  [When it comes to] domestic violence, you want to try to make the victim as important as the probationer and that is what we did.  That was a real mindset change for the profession.  That is why the federal government funded our domestic violence unit [at one point] - because of what we were doing.

Q: What are some of the unique challenges you face as both Commissioner of Corrections and Probation?

Pozzi: It's kind of a unique perspective.  Once I got the corrections job, I realized how important it was for the corrections people and probation people to be on the same page and working together, especially on a local level.  A lot of people confined here eventually work their way our of the facility and go onto probation supervision for the remainder of [their sentences].  There is a real need for us to have a presence in the correctional facility, which I did not realize as much until I got up here and saw what was going on.  [We] need to be part of transitional effort from facility into the community. Probation has to play a role in that. 

Q: What are some of the changes you have made on the corrections side?

Pozzi:  I was supposed to take over for six months seven years ago. One of the things that we did when I took over in 1998 [was] we had a blue ribbon panel put together to look at the problems we were having at the DOC.  It came down to these were the primary problems: we had an aging penitentiary that needed to be knocked down and we needed a new facility; we also had a job injury problem - at any given time we had up to 125 officers that were out on job injury - long term, 30 days or more; when we really studied the workforce here, the job injury and the normal sick time was up.  At any given time, we had close to 30 percent of workforce not available to work. There was a lot of overtime that [amounted to] a lot of money being spent on overtime to fill the posts so that we could run the institution. 

We also looked at some of the programming issues we had up here, or the lack of programming for inmates.  We had a facility here that we know most of the people who come to lockup had substance abuse problems.  We had no substance abuse program.  We had some small Narcotics Anonymous-type of programs up here, but we really didn't have a drug treatment program here.  That is one of the things that I recommended right away to the county executive and we do have a great drug program here [now], which we call Solutions. 

In response to those major concerns, we did get a referendum from the voters to build a new penitentiary, which is now open.  We knocked down 276 beds and we built 276 beds.  We didn't add any capacity because we really felt it was [important] to start working on the probation end and doing transitional planning for inmates at the local level.  Inmates leaving here had no plan.  They were just being released.  You did your time and you just left.  No one looking to see if they stayed in [treatment] programs.  [They didn't] receive any guidance on how to continue on the outside when they got into the community.  So I developed a transitional planning team that now works at the DOC that deals with transitional planning for these [offenders].  On that transitional group are people from social services, my own counselors and probation people.  It's a pretty interesting group that puts together these plans for people.  We have actually been able to cut through the red tape of [the Department of Social Services] in New York and make sure that when people leave here, they have social services benefits already, the day they hit the street.

Q: What is the best part of your job?

Pozzi: That's a good question.  I enjoy the challenge.  Every day it's a different  challenge.  I like the idea that I can implement programs to try to break this vicious cycle of people continuing to filter through the criminal justice system.  I am a strong believer that when you have people - especially in the corrections setting - that you do something with them while they are [there] to deal with their problems.  That is why we are looking to expand the programming.  [The] new penitentiary [has] space, [so] I can expand my educational programming.  I am looking to institute vocational training to try and get people some skill so that when they leave here they can continue and maybe get some decent jobs out there.  If people are making money, [they] are less likely to commit crimes.  [I believe in] the idea of being able to do something with people while they are confined and continue to work with those people when they are released back into the community if they have a probation sentence.

Q: What do you see in your future?

Pozzi: I am so busy right now, I don't have time to think about it.  I enjoy working in Westchester.  It's been very good to me. I have been blessed with good bosses.  My current boss is one of the greatest guys in the world to work with.  We kind-of think alike [about] trying to help people.  He'll recommend legislative reform to make laws tougher for those who commit serious crimes and need to be monitored more closely, but he is not afraid to make recommendations to institute programming, [as well].  When I have gone to him with [issue regarding treatment and programming], I always receive a positive response because he believes in that and it makes my job easier.

I have a boss who is extremely supportive, even in these difficult budgetary times.  He knows a dollar invested now saves 10 down the road.  The cost of incarcerating [an offender] in Westchester is extremely high.  [It costs] $58,000 a year to keep an inmate here.  My budget for corrections is close to $100 million. It's expensive.  We've got close to 750 corrections officers, supervisory officers, then the civilians that work here - close to 1,000 [people] that work in this department.  The cost of incarceration is expensive.  If we have them here, we ought to be doing something with the to prevent them from coming back.  I am convinced that if we didn't have the programming here at [the] correctional [facility] and a great probation department that allows options for judges to consider other than incarceration, the population here could be much higher.

It's less expensive to monitor people's activities in the community where you have got more resources, than it is to lock [someone] up in a correctional facility.  You've got to understand that there are some people that need to be incarcerated.  You just can't do anything with them in the community [because they are] too dangerous to keep on the street.  There's got to be a real balance of what you are doing - making sure you have those who need to be in the community [in the community] and those who need to be behind bars dealt with.  I think we do that really [well] in Westchester.

Q: What advice do you have for people starting out in the corrections field?

Pozzi: I think it's really beneficial to major in a criminal justice.  It's extremely helpful.  It really gives you a perspective on the various branches associated with criminal justice.  It gives you the background you need as far as social work and psychiatry.  [You will be] a master of none, but [have] an understanding of all those things. 

When you do go out into the field, be open-minded.  What you may initially think you may like to do, you may find out it a little bit differently and you may want to branch out into something else. Once you really find what you like doing, I suggest people go back to school if you want to get into the administrative track of criminal justice or you want to continue to be a practitioner.  [Get] more education, but be open minded about what you want to do.  Be honest with yourself and [decide] what you like doing.  You don't want to be in a position where you wake up in the morning and you don't want to go to work.  I have never had that feeling.